>> german chancellor said she spoke to lvladimir putin. >> russian forces have complete operational control.

meanwhile. the navy chief delaired his loyalty to russia and disavowed the new leaders one day after he got the job. if russian thrussia does not ba down soon what will happen? well things just keep changing all the time here. we are hearing that putin talked to germ an chancellor and reafirmed his coreys about the

growing crisis in the crimea but we are hearing that a fact finding mission will be sent to the area. check out the situation and that is the first step towards what the west has been saying. i imagine the goal of the fact finding mission would be to corroborate and investigate. is it your sense that charge or allegation is true that the russian speaking citizens in that area are under threat from the ukrainian majority in the

country? they have been asking for the united nations for someone to send monitors into the eastern part and into crimea to prove that there isn't discrimination going on. the pretext to them going in was that russians would be discriminated against. this is something that they wanted all along. the west is going to be happy with this. they are able to bring diplomatic wiggle room into this crisis and the russians are going to you know stick to their guns so to speak at of now.

they are saying that monitors will see that they were right all along. but these things tend to come and go and ebb and flow. we are hearing reports of tension increasing. and now decreasing. >> john kerry will arrive in kiki kieve. how important is it to have america's most senior diplomate on the ground there. what will the reception be to s secretary kerry? >> he will get a warm reception here. the government has been pleading for help.

we have heard a lot of words coming out into it so we are e x expecting at the end of the day they need to get the russians onboard. they still have a lot of work to do. >> we have cnn's barbara starr on the phone as well. is there anything to indicate 6,000 russian troops on the ground complete operational control that russia's military moves are slowing down? i imagine that sceptics might say that could be a delay tactic? >> well, that is really the

critical point right now. fact finding missions discuss e all of that and there is hope that will work. frying to give putin light at the end of the day to work towards how can he make a choice and still keep the russian pride. but putin might not be the least interested in any of that. he has 6,000 troops in crimea in just a few days now. russian troops have full operational control. nobody knows if they are going to move more troops in. but gaining control of cry me thea gives them significant military leverage to control the northern end of the black sea if

they choose to do so nobody goes in or comes out without the approval of russian forces at this point. we'll see how long putin tells them to stay there. including where they come nose to nose with ukrainian forces. you have covered these things for years. whatever officials might be saying in the public. you have troops on the ground,

guns drawn. some with magazine clips in. that is a dangerous situation to keep under control. this is constantly changing. you have nose to nose, you have the russians in an area where there is significant population. there are plenty of others who don't want to see the russians there and the longer this goes on patience in these situations begins to wear very thin. we have seen it time and again in history where a that and to

be able to take the russians on. they have superior air power and ability to control and seize control and hold air, land and sea space. not something the ukraineians are going to be able to challenge. and what would happen if we see an incident flare out-of-control. u.s. officials have been saying even until the end of the week it was their assessment was this

a major failure? >> well, it perhaps remains to be seen. they did see putin saying he would do whatever he wished to do to protect russian interests. he has accomplished that. he has sent a message to the united states and the ukraine that he is still this major.

>> major developments happening quickly. just in the last hour. russian forces taking full control of cry crimea we have word of secretary of state traveling to the area on tuesday. and the german chancellor has spoken to putin. president putin accepting that suggestion. and things moving rapidly. and we'll have the latest coming up after this break.

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breaking news by the minute. new developments by the minute. russian forces now control the peninsula. in a situation with few good options for the u.s. i spoke last hour to former ambassador. i asked general marks if the military action amounts there to an invasion. the invasion occurred a couple of days ago when russia put forces into the sovereign nation into the you crane ukraine by w crimea. it is not unusual to see the

bases surrounded to ensure that that doesn't flip. in terms of the russian view. it is not unusual at all that we would see this. we are seeing the steps of some fo form, of an, annexation by russia. we know that ukraine yan forian are outnumbered. what aid might they be asking from the eu and the us as we hear about what appears to be sovereign ukrainian territory? it teseems to be that the ukra e ukrainian government in terms of

telling them not to resist. if this is a prelewd ude to the ukraine the game changes and you will see the army fight. and then the game becomes much different. in terms of political, it is a great move to go to key. one of the things that foreign secretary has indicated today is to do everything that we can to bolster a government that has only been in place for about seven days and faces huge challenges. is there any military options? we are not talking about

invasion of shooting. military options to send a message. there is a regularly scheduled d deployment of war ships. would that be a good sign for the administration to send at this point? it is a perfect sign if it is scheduled if it is not in response to what is taking place in the ukraine. going into the black sea makes it more problematic. the united states doesn't have to fight its way in. it is important that the united states continue to exercise military options and the primary mission is to deescalate.

we can't just be in response to his efforts. the united states has to present a capability that allows partners to build on that presence so it can build and respond as directed. >> coming up it has taken months of protest and tension to get to this point. how did we get here? coming up that story. you're almost twice as likely to lose your supporting teeth? try poligrip for partials. poligrip helps minimize stress which may damage supporting teeth by stabilizing your partial. care for your partial. help protect your natural teeth.

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we wanted to slow down and pause and dig down to what led to this point. it is in europe and they are all strong members of nato. the united nations has an obligation to protect them. let's go inside as well so we

can understand the divisions there that are driving part of this. you get to the western part of the country. only 5% of these people speak russian. although to be clear, the center of this crisis 60% of the people speak russian. this plays out in the elections that have taken place in the crown t country. going back to 2010, his support in that eastern part of the country where they speak russian 50% of this vote was here. in the western part of the

country the support bordering poland there. here 50-75% where kieve the capitol is where this all started. he was put in place there. in that area a strange stand off took place with ukraine yian an russian troops. here is the story. >> reporter: god save your people these women sing outside the gates. protect us with your cross.

inside the troops have vowed never to surrender to the hundreds of other troops without insignia but russian marines deployed outside. tells me they say they are here to protect us but who will they protect us from? no one has attacked us. under the soviet union it was part of russia until it was handed over to the ukraine part of the soviet union as the symbol of the fraternal ties between russia and the ukraine. those ties almost now without repair. 67-year-old former soldier insists crimea is russian and

should return. >> logically, crimea should be part of russia. we have all of the elements here for a tense stand off. the soldiers here for instance don't have ammunition in their weapons, we have opponents and supporters, there has been a lot of talk but not any action. further away from the gates, the troops do have ammunition and in mid afternoon more arrive. the base may be surrounded but it is not sealed. the commander entered unimpeded but for a crowd of curious su l

jurntists. praying to turn stand off to stand down. cnn, south of crimea. >> we are going to continue to follow the developments in the ukraine crisis. but there is another big story we want to tell you about. that is weather. after the break we'll show you who is going to get hit by another big winter storm right after this. aroni & cheese from stouffer's starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese. but what makes stouffer's mac n' cheese best of all. that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. made with care for you or your family.

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jefgerman chancellor sayinge spoke to putin. senior u.s. official tells cnn

that russianforces have complete operational control. forces are in the region and officials will say they have cancelled a russian visit to the u.s. to talk good energy markets. also as the news was breaking secretary of state john kerry will travel and land on tuesday. in the middle of it all there is a military stand off at three bases in that region. nose to nose, pro russian forces appear to be surrounding those bases. there is other news out there to tell you about right here in the u.s. 106 million americans are in a major winter storm's path. philadelphia are two cities that are right in the bull's eye.

george i'm going to start with you in louisville. we see snow and sleet around the capitol. will you seeing it in the city yet? >> we are seeing this light sleet coming down and where we are right now this is where the center of activity starts. you can see the trucks that are loading the snow plows they will go and put salt down on the roads. again, 105 million people, in the path of this big storm. i have lost count. i don't remember how many big storms we have had come through here. here in this area the big certain is obviously the trees and the power lines. a big problem when the sleet comes in. we have heard estimates from

five inches plus so the louisville area is preparing. >> word to my relatives. looks like it is going to be a tough night. i know the weather is coming your way. what is the seen there and what are the preparations there? >> it is already getting cold here and it is about to get ugly the winter storm warning goes into effect but soon we will see sleet around 10:00 tonight. we will see six to 8 inches of snow. that is a lot of snow in the city on top of the 59 inches of snow that has fallen here over the course of the winter. it isn't enough to make this a

record breaking winter. 79 inches of snow fell here. i think i can speak for a lot of people -- >> we seem to have lost her in philadelphia. giving us the latest. another city that is in the cross hairs in that storm. coming up, the latest on the crisis in ukraine. plus cnn's new series, chicagoland shows people trying to stop the gunfire from killing the city's children.

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cnn's new original series "chicagoland".

is about the town trying to save it's children from violent deaths. mccarthy faced a youth violence epidemic. shot and killed unthe park one week after performing at president obama's inauguration. in another park a three-year-old boy was shot in the face. that boy survived but now is afraid to go back to the park that he once loved. >> my biggest issue in chicago is dealing with gangs, guns and the press. it is not cultureal change, they all pale in comparison. and the media. they keep talking about the rising toll of gun lie vens in

chicago while the numbers are going in the other direction. there has been a decline. in 2012, there were 161 murders in the first quarter. in 2013 there were 93. >> we are taking a holistic approach to crime reduction in chicago. >> what are you trying to achieve? >> i'm trying to save the world. >> can't you tell? >> yeah, well, i'm trying to save chicago. >> so here -- >> any particular part of chicago? >> all of it. >> we are going to bring you the hero of the film, chicago police superintendant mccarthy. we see that youth violence decreased by 40% in 2013.

in juone year how did you make that happen so quickly. >> hey, jim, thank you for the accolades. i just get the blame or the credit being in charge of the department. we did a complete retooling of the department. we tipped the balance to relying on beat officers which was a big change of pace. the most important thing that we did was created a comprehensive gang violence reduction strategy. we had one of the worst gang violence problem. we didn't have a comprehensive strategy. we developed that and it revolves around the strategy. so when one issue happens it doesn't kickoff a whole series of events.

it focuses on the people, places and things that are causing gang violence in the city. the people being the gang members and a lot of attention has been drawn to our custom notification program which revolves around a formula created by vindividual where we canfied fi an individual who is likely to be involved as an offender. that strategy is probably one of the most comprehensive in the country. >> it is. i want to bring you in evelyn, as well. it is also about prevention programs. can you explain to our viewers

how that works and how that keeps young men out of the gangs? >> right so the main idea behind becoming a man is youth engage in automatic responses in their behavior so programs like bam help youths reflect on their decision making process and think before they act. we have learned that that formula is working to reduce violence. you heard president obama use it as his brother's keeper's initiative. there was a participant that got to introduce the president and the mayor in chicago has tripled

his investment in the program since he started. it is really a great example of what we are doing in chicago that is different. we are investing in programs that are proven to reduce violen violence. >> i'm glad you mentioned the president's program this week similar attention to young men in need. in situations like this, people like simple solutions but it is not a one dimensional problem. f gary, you are from new york, what challenges did chicago's gng culture pose that you didn't see here on the east coast? >> the proliferation of firearms in the city of chicago. we keep talking about it. we recover more guns than any

other city in the country. up to three times the number of guns that are recovered in los angeles. i have worked with great police officers my whole life. there are that many more here. that is because of the structure of the gun laws in the state of illinois. you mentioned hadia hependleton. nobody goes to jail for gun possession in the state of illinois. the accused killer of her plead guilty in 2011 and killed her in 2012. he shouldn't have been on the streets. they have a that is probably our

greatest challenge. we could do better. you could see a lot more from both of them. it debuts this thursday night. it follows the struggles and successes facing this american city it is a fight for change that will not be easy. it premiers thursday at 10:00 p.m. eastern time 9:00 central. >> so will ukraine go to war with russia? that is the question hanging over the growing crisis at this hour. coming up we'll take you there. [ male announcer ] did you know that if you wear a partial, you're almost twice as likely to lose your supporting teeth? try poligrip for partials.

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tasks. i couldn't remember how to dial the phone. >> reporter: she was misdiagnosed with bronchitis and then pneumonia, and a few months later she was rushed to the hospital coughing up blood from a lung hemorrhage. she spent two and a half weeks then in an induced coma. >> there was a period of about a week and a half where they weren't sure i was going to live. >> reporter: when she finally left the hospital, doctors still didn't know what was wrong with her. >> i had a relapse. i was again coughing up blood. they sent me to the cleveland clinic where i was diagnosed. >> which cause as form of inflammation of the blood vessels. >> it took its toll on me emotionally and mentally. >> reporter: depression, weight gain, they both followed. and then the chemotherapy to treat the disease caused her hair to fall out. but throughout several relapses, allison, she never gave up on her music. despite struggling with strength and endurance, she enrolled at the overland conservatory, even

played carnegie hall with their orchestra. then she started violin for vasculitis. >> it's given me the ability to combine these things in my life, my illness and my music in a way that i never thought would have been possible. >> reporter: last october came an invitation to join the akron symphony. >> it's a goal i've had for a long time. and it feels really, really neat knowing that i overcame all of this and i'm still able to play. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. >> "the human factor" is brought to you by cancer treatment centers of america. care that never quits. and this will be your premium right here.

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. this is cnn breaking news. >> the crisis in ukraine is reaching a boiling point. a senior u.s. official confirms russian forces now have complete operational control of the crimian peninsula. it's believed some 6,000 russian ground and naval forces are in the region right now. and a short time ago the u.s. announced john kerry will live fly to kiev on tuesday to lend support to the interim government there. meanwhile in russia, the continued aggression in ukraine sparked duelling protests today. as we have been talking about this, we wanted to remind people

not only the west's interests in ukraine, but also russia's. i want to draw your attention to the tip of crimea. this is the support of sebastopol. it's a very important russian naval base, it's only warm water base. all the others get frozen up in winter. this is the key to why russia considers this a vital interest to its country. this isn't a million miles away. it is in europe. crimea is where florence nightingale made her name during the crimian war. this is a place very connected to europe, very connected to european history for some time. and certainly of vital interest to the russians because they have that key naval base right here. in light of the military interests we're talking about, i want to bring in our own general spider marks who is a cnn military analyst. we've been speaking to him extensively about this. spider, can you help explain to

our viewers how and why in russia's view crimea is so important, so vital to them from a national security standpoint? >> well, jim, thanks very much. yeah, you touched on it, absolutely specifically. and it is access to sebastopol. this is where russia and previously the soviet union had housed their black sea fleet. and as you indicated, it's the only warm water port that the russian federation has access to. so it's incredibly important in terms of their national security interests, access to the mediterranean and then onward, free access and flow along all those lines of communications that have affect not only their security, but also their economics, all of their commerce, et cetera. so it's extremely important. and also in light of what is taking place in syria right now, this is really quick access to that region as well. and as we realize, the united states' ien

east is waning. russia now as we have seen is taking a very upper hand in events in syria. and it's amazing to us that we can see russia quite easily control events and dictate the pace in syria. they conduct the olympics in sochi, and now they're asserting themselves almost without resistance in the ukraine. >> and also, just about the black sea, you have this major russian naval base there. but the black sea is also -- the u.s. navy has access there. in fact, there are regularly scheduled exercises with warships going into the black sea that is still not russian territory, though. that is open water. >> it is, absolutely. russia does not claim that, nor should they. certainly it borders turkey as well as russia, ukraine, and others. but it's very important to realize that under these conditions, where it is now in extremis, it is hostile. the united states has maneuvers

into the black sea with marines. they're coming up very shortly. i wouldn't be surprised -- >> general marks, i'm going to have to cut you off there just as we're coming to the end here. i'm jim sciutto. please stay with cnn and cnn.com for continuing developments on the ukraine. up next, a red carpet special, hollywood's biggest night. ♪ this is it, the most glamorous evening of the year. the a-listers are here. the rain has miraculously stopped. live from the red carpet, this is "hollywood's biggest night." >> tonight, the stars -- >> dead broke, really. i mean, the government took everything. >> the movies. >> ain't nothing out there that can kill ron. >> $26,000 for one -- no, no, this can be explained. >> the surprises. >> guess what? he